If you still believe that working out should be reserved for bodybuilders and fitness buffs, it's time to get real, as in The RealAge Workout (HarperCollins). As the bestselling author behind RealAge, The RealAge Makeover, and YOU: The Owner's Manual, Dr. Michael Roizen has helped people reverse the aging process through his practical health, diet and fitness guidance. In fact, the RealAge phenomenon has been so hugely popular that Dr. Roizen is now a fixture on Oprah, Good Morning America, PBS, 20/20, Today, CNN, Fox News Channel, and other media outlets...

In his latest offering, The RealAge Workout, Dr. Roizen turns his focus to fitness and its positive effects on your overall health. Drawing wisdom from over 35,000 scientific and medical studies, his recommendations take into account age, genetics and lifestyle to create the healthiest you possible.

"It is complementary to [my] other books," Dr. Roizen tells LifeScript in an exclusive interview. "We only had small sections on exercise in our other books and people had written us that they wanted fuller explanations of what to do. Here we lay them out very specifically in step-by-step fashion. It is literally how we do it with our patients, and anyone can do it."

The RealAge Workout incorporates various stretches and exercises that work the body’s eight core muscles. Dr. Roizen also offers a number of techniques and modifications to tailor these moves to your own individual needs and fitness level.

According to Dr. Roizen, far too many people fail to realize the importance of being active. Working out on a regular basis can help you maintain your weight, but that is just the beginning.

Did you know that physical activity can also reduce the risk of developing cancer, as well as reduce the incidence of cancer recurrences? Or that exercise combats the aging of the arteries? Following the RealAge Workout won’t just fight diseases – it will increase your energy levels, improve your health and help you to feel better overall.

Dr. Roizen has always maintained that working out can add years onto your life and has touched on the virtues of physical activity in his other books. However, in The RealAge Workout, he takes an in-depth look at working out and shares tips, tricks and techniques for getting maximum health benefits, with minimal effort. Appropriate for any level of fitness, The RealAge Workout is a detailed step-by-step guide to getting your health on track.

"Exercise helps keep you young," Dr. Roizen says. "Working out is simply one of the most effective ways to keep the body young. There is no substitute."

Dr. Roizen stresses that you're never too old to get moving. When it comes to working out, improving your health should be the objective above everything else. He adds that being fit and being healthy aren't necessarily one and the same. In fact, achieving optimal health requires much less effort.

"Maximally fit is not maximally healthy. Maximally healthy doesn't require that much activity,” says Dr. Roizen. “You get a much greater benefit with a lot less effort for health than for fitness."

Dr. Roizen’s workout consists of walking, strength-training and stamina-building activities. Just as Rome wasn't built in a day, Dr. Roizen realizes the importance of baby steps. The workout is made up of four phases. Beginners who have never exercised before can start with phase one, taking baby steps and progressing slowly until they can do all four phases.

Phase 1: Walk 30 minutes a day. This can be done at all at once or in 10-minute increments.

Phase 4: Perform 21 minutes of stamina or aerobic exercises three days a week.

"There is a secret we tell you about early on – all you have to do to be successful is walk 30 minutes a day. Anyone can do that. You feel successful and then begin to do other things like building foundation muscles. Once you feel successful with that, you can move on to other things," Dr. Roizen says.

Once followers nail down the walking part of the plan, the second part of his program involves 10 minutes of strength-training three times a week. According to Dr. Roizen, whether you're age 20 or 90, you should be able to lift a sufficient amount of weight to make improvements, although there are limitations to how much people can do.

The RealAge Workout suggests a variety of strength exercises to improve strength and functionality, and each movement is accompanied by a photo to make it easy for you to use correct form.

"What sets the RealAge Workout apart is its emphasis on how easy it is," says Dr. Roizen. "When I say to patients ‘you should exercise and eat right,’ they all have different conceptions of what [this] is.

"We’re being specific and showing the easy way to get started with working 30 minutes a day. We've proven it works with middle-aged people who used to be athletes or middle-aged people who were never athletes,” he says. “It's really quite an easy step program to get into."

Dr. Roizen practices what he preaches, using meeting times to walk around the Cleveland Clinic campus with colleagues. During phone interviews, he hits the treadmill for a stroll. He seizes every opportunity to take a step in the right direction, regardless of his busy schedule.

Now, he's encouraging people everywhere to adopt the RealAge workout. After all, he says, your life may depend on it.

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